Swim Practice
By Olivia C., Houston, TX
It's still dark outside.
It's 5:30 a.m.
My head is filled with thoughts of school,
And exhaustion,
As I swim up and down the pool,
Up and down that black line,
A countless number of times.
My thoughts are jumbled,
My body is telling me to stop,
To take it down a notch.
My brain is telling me to pick up the pace a bit.
I see my coach cheering,
But my body is hurting.
I pick up the pace,
And I continue to stare at that black line,
As I swim,
Up and down,
Up and down.
The monotony of swimming,
Has begun to bother me today,
Mostly, just because it's 5:30 in the morning,
And my head is full of algebraic equations
From last night's homework
As I swim I think about
The formula for acceleration,
And then I feel another stab of complete exhaustion.
I stop at the wall
At the end of the set,
And do my best to catch my breath.
My coach tells me I did well.
And I manage a smile,
As he tells me to do it all again
And I push off the wall
To begin,
The next set
Up and down,
Up and down,
The black line,
Over and over again.
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